Arx, After the Reckoning

Templars

Words: "Sword of the Faith, Shield of the Righteous."
Sigil: White shield edged in gold presenting three interlinked gold rings with a silver longsword running through the rings left to right.

The Templars of Gloria are the discipleship of Gloria within the Faith of the Pantheon. One of the largest of the discipleships, numbering thousands upon thousands of men at arms and godsworn across the parishes of Arx, the Templars act as the sword of the Faith. They protect the shrines, they guard the Godsworn, they deal with the Abandoned and they otherwise stand ready to do the bidding of the Faith. Commanded in the field by the Grandmaster of the Templars, who sits equal to the Archlectors in the councils of the Faith, the Templars answer ultimately to their Archlector of Gloria, and from her to the Legate of Arts (the Sword of the Faith) and then to the Dominus. Though the Archlector runs the infrastructure of the Shrines of Gloria, she also controls the ability of the Templars to summon forth the Templar levies from the Parishes and so ensures the Grandmaster's cause is always righteous.

As part of the Faith Militant, the Templars tend towards the Oathlands Orthodoxy and often chafe under the restraint forced upon them by the moderating force of the pragmatics and more liberal parts of the Faith. That said, they also take seriously their duty to ensure that Crownbreaker never occurs again - a time when the Faith was decimated and forced to bend the knee in effect to a Fealty. The Templars also have the honour of providing the bodyguard for the Dominus, Legates and other important members of the Faith. However not all Templars fight themselves, as part of their mission to ensure the Faith never again is reliant on others they do maintain a war economy within themselves, with farriers, blacksmiths, armorers and others to allow them to operate with some autonomy - and also not to drain local areas when they do assemble in force.

The Templars rely heavily on the myths of their past, the failure of Crownbreaker and the stories of the Faith fighting at the forefront in the Reckoning. It is not uncommon to hear references to these times in battle calls, urging men forward with calls to remember Crownbreaker, to save the Compact, and of course calls to the Gods. They see themselves as the heirs to a long legacy of enduring guardianship of the Faith, as a needed force to stand against evil with purity - no politics, no land, no distraction, simply righteousness.